The Future They Could Have Had
by Shewhodanceswithdragons
Summary: Based on a pic over at DA! It's the night of the underclassmen prom, but Danny and Sam can't enjoy it, as Clockwork shows them and Dan 'The Future They Could Have Had...'DxS Oneshot COMPLETE


_**This is based on a pic over at Deviant art. To see the pic, remove the spaces in the following link: http:// www. deviantart. com/ view/ 23706 959/**_

_**I'm really bored, so I'm trying to catch up on my To-do list. Please provide feedback!**_

_**WARNING! This will be Danny/Sam or Dan/Sam. It all depends on how you look at it.**_

_**DISCLAIMER!!!! I do not own Danny Phantom, for if I did the show would not be cancelled and Danny and Sam would have been together since the first episode.  
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It was the night of the underclassman prom. Formal wear stores had been sold out for weeks, along with flower boutiques and limousine rentals. Salons had been booked solid for days.

Even Sam, Tucker, and Danny were getting ready for this night. Well, Danny was TRYING to. It was kinda hard for him to concentrate on such trivial matters as a pseudo prom when he had to deal with the overflow of ghost activity lately. You would think with his rapidly evolving powers they would learn to stay away from Amity Park, but nooooo, they just HAD to keep on flocking there, forcing Danny to spend even MORE time protecting the city and his identity, which was still hard even with the addition of his Ghostly Wail and freezing powers. So it was no wonder he was frazzled the night of the dance…

"Danny, for the billionth time, there won't be ANY ghosts there!" Sam said, exasperated.

"Are you sure? Because that's what you said the last time, and then Dora showed up."

Tucker butted in. "Dude, just listen and drop it already."

The trio was at Danny's house, trying to convince him that he wouldn't have to worry about any ghosts. Sam and Tucker were already ready, and Danny was half dressed. When Sam had arrived Tucker had to pick up Danny's jaw and rehinge it back on, he was so shocked.

Danny sighed. "Fine, but I want you guys to take these, just in case. I don't want you getting hurt." He handed Tucker the Jack-of-Nine-Tails and Sam the Fenton Fisher. "I'll take the thermos, just in case."

"Now that we've gotten this crisis cleared up, can you PLEASE get ready so we can go!?" Sam was quickly loosing her patience. She had gotten dressed up for a reason, and she wasn't going to let it go to waste.

"Fine." He smirked. "Do you want to watch?" He ducked as she swung at him, then phased through the ceiling, snickering quietly. He had no reason to worry, as his parents were at a convention and Jazz was at the library, looking up some information on the effect of something or other on the teenaged something. He wasn't paying much attention when she left.

After getting dressed in a tux (thankfully not one of his father's old ones) they left by means of Sam's family's private limo, which her parents had insisted on providing. After all, it was not everyday that their Sammy-kins VOULINTARILY agreed to go to a dance.

_At the dance…_

Danny looked around. Most kids were dancing, although a bit self consciously. Tucker had disappeared in search of Valerie, leaving Danny and Sam to make awkward conversation. Sam had finally worked up the nerve to ask Danny to dance, when his ghost sense had gone off. Danny ran out to the bathroom to change into Phantom, while Sam found Tucker drowning his sorrows in the punch bowl and informed him of the situation. Splitting up, Sam took the outside while Tucker took the upper levels, Danny circulating invisible over the school, until his ghost sense went off and he bolted outside, to come across Skulker, who forced him into battle.

Meanwhile, Sam had run into Dan, who had somehow escaped the Thermos and the Ghost Zone, and who had come to take his revenge on Danny.

"YOU! I thought Clockwork had trapped you in his tower!" Sam backed away from the cloaked version of Danny, who had come up behind her without warning.

He sneered, "My dear Samantha. You really believe that fool of a ghost could keep me in that thermos forever? I had no choice to escape, with him blathering away about such things as Schrodinger's cat and other such nonsense."

Sam blinked. "You know about Schrodinger's cat?" She said this to hopefully provide a distraction while she slipped the Fenton Fisher out of the holster strapped to her leg.

"Of course I do!" He said so scornfully, as if she had insulted him. "I hope you don't think I'm a TOTAL idiot? Because that's what you're making me think, with you trying to get that Fenton Fisher out without my notice. For that, I'm afraid I will have to kill you."

Sam's eyes widened as he prepared an ecto-blast that would most likely incinerate her when a squeaky voice said,

"Um, I would not advise doing that."

_With Danny…_

He had just finished sucking Skulker into the Thermos when his ghost sense had gone off. He whirled around, dropping into a defensive position, when he realized that it was Clockwork. He sighed in relief and straightened up, bowing as he did so.

"Reading too much magna again, Danny?" Clockwork commented dryly.

Danny grinned. "Nope. We've been studying Japanese culture and history, and I thought it would be a nice display of respect, O wise and powerful teacher."

"Flattery will get you no where. Now come, I have something to show you back at the tower."

_With Sam…_

Dan glowered at the minuscule ghost who had dared to interfere. "You do know I can obliviate you with one blast, right?" He failed to notice the second ghost who had appeared behind him until it had placed a device on him, when it was too late to react. With a grunt he fell forward onto his knees, his powers drained for now.

Ignoring the fuming ghost, Sam turned to her two saviors. "Thanks for the rescue. Mind telling me who you are?"

"I am Tick," said the ghost with the monocle, "and he is Tock. We are agents of Clockwork, sent to show you something that will affect you both."

"Figures that goody-two shoe would still meddle, even after I had escaped." Dan muttered as he stood up, glaring murderously at Tock. "As I am a captive audience, show us what it is you want to show us, before I die from the suspense."

Sam commented offhandedly, "Sarcasm does nothing for your complexion."

"Is that why you're so pale then?" He shot back before receiving a prod from the small scepter Tick carried. Making a mental note to kill them all once he got his powers back, he quieted.

"Now then," Tick said, "Let me show you what you all have been waiting for…"

_At Clockwork's tower…_

Clockwork morphed from a child into a man while leading Danny to his observation portal, where he proceeded to explain why he had brought him here.

"Danny, do you know what would have happened if the Nasty Burger incident never happened?"

He blinked at the surprising question. "I guess that my family and friends -and Mr. Lancer- would never have been killed, which means that I would never turn into Dan."

"Part of that is correct. You would have gone on to become an astronaut, while still maintaining your ghost fighting position. You would've also settled down with someone, someone you care deeply for, and who cares deeply for you, although you have been too clueless to pick up on it. Hopefully, I can change that with what I'm about to show you."

He opened a window into an alternate timeline…

_With Sam, Dan, Tick, and Tock…_

"No. Freakin. Way." Dan ground out between his teeth, staring at the image the two had conjured before them. "There is NO way my past self would have grown up to be…THAT!"

He immediately received a thwap on the back of the head from Sam, who was feeling a little light headed herself. Ignoring his glare, she cautiously approached the portal, in which an apparently married older Danny and an obviously pregnant older Sam shared a 'moment' together, as Danny placed a protective hand over her belly and Sam draped her hand over his shoulder, obviously moments away from a kiss.

Backing away from the image, she tripped and steadied herself by placing a hand on Dan's chest. Sam blushed while Dan looked strangely at the hand, as if unfamiliar with human contact after more than a decade without. Sam quickly removed her hand, and tightened her grip on the Fenton Fisher.

"Will this be the future, now that the timeline has been altered?" She asked, drawing a snort from Dan.

"Why? You want to get knocked up by my past self?"

"I WILL hurt you."

"I'd like to see you try. Remember, I'm dead, and I can heal in the blink of an eye. What can YOU possibly do to hurt me?"

"I can stick you into an extra-strength Thermos and force you to listen to Tucker's singing for eternity."

"…Good point."

Tock interfered before one of them permanently harmed the other. "It is but one possible outcome, the future you could have had. Now, the time has come for us to leave."

"Can I get my powers back now?"

"After you promise to never come back tonight to this place, and to refrain from permanently harming anyone here."

"Fine. On my word as the most powerful ghost the Ghost Zone has ever seen."

Tick placed the device onto his back. "You will receive your powers after you have returned to the Ghost Zone."

"Very well." He preformed a mock bow to Sam. "We will meet again, my dear. Try not to get too disappointed by my past self!" And with that he disappeared.

"I thought he wasn't supposed to get his powers back until he was back in the Ghost Zone!" Sam said, glaring at Tick.

"He is very unpredictable. It is most likely that only his more advanced powers were affected, leaving him with some, but not all. Which is fortunate for us."

"Now, if you'll excuse us, we must be off."

"Time doesn't wait for no one, you know!"

"Unless you're Clockwork or something!"

With that they disappeared, leaving Sam to stare at the surroundings in shock, her mind struggling to take in the information it had learned.

_With Danny…_

"WHAT! Me-Sam-t-together?"

"Yes Danny, you are correct. You and miss Samantha might possibly raise a family together, unless some unforeseen event takes place and prevents this version of the future from happening. Now I suggest you get back to the dance, as I'm sure you and miss Samantha have a lot to talk about."

He opened a portal for Danny and guided the shocked teen in. Seconds after the portal closed, Tick and Tock appeared.

"Well, how did it go?" Clockwork asked, turning to face his assistants.

Tick answered, "Fairly well, considering the circumstances."

Clockwork sighed. "That is to be expected."

_With Sam…_

She had been snapped out of her shocked state by Danny flying into her, knocking them both off their feet. After apologizing profusely and helping her up, they stared at each other until they burst out talking at the same time, each trying to ask the other if they knew what had just happened.

Their interrogation of each other was interrupted by Tucker, who was covered in lipstick prints and with severely mussed clothes. Without exchanging a word they agreed to talk later, without Tucker present.

Breaking into Tucker's stream of apologies, Danny turned to Sam and said, "Would you like to dance?"

Blushing, she accepted, and they danced to the faint music drifting out of the gym.

"So," Danny whispered into her ear, "what do you think of the future that might have happened?"

_Fin._

_**I know, I know, I took several liberties when writing this fic. I'm sorry, sergeantstan. It's late and I'm tired. I hope you enjoyed it though!**_

_**YAY! She liked it! Here's her review from DA.**_

_OH MY GOD. This was so good! It's so similar to my original idea for it. I feel so honored that you wrote it!_

_You balanced it out so well, and I love the switching back and forth between Sam's and Danny's POV. The part with Sam and Dan and the touch was so cute!_

_I love it 100000000x! Thanks so much for writing it! __**  
**_


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